A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies
by Aelaer
Summary: The side effect of returning from a particular dimension leaves Stephen Strange experiencing the magical equivalent of being high on nitrous oxide, aka laughing gas. Wong, the other two Sanctum Masters, and a cloak take the time to watch, babysit, laugh, collect blackmail, and drink tea with him in the meanwhile. Just another day in the lives of the Masters of the Mystic Arts.


Tina Minoru is canonically the Master of the Hong Kong Sanctum. In the film, she's played by Linda Louise Duan in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene.

Grem is a character who helps train Stephen in the tie-in comic to the film, "Mystic Apprentice". Though it's not an official prelude comic, so not "canon", I needed another Master that wasn't Hamir or Wong so here we are. His first name's made up, though. He is totally played by Rupert Graves in my head, so we have four British actors all playing non-British characters (but seriously, every sorcerer but Kaecilius is played by a British actor. And that character is dead, so Brits conquer that part of the MCU).

This takes place a couple months before the events of Infinity War.

Written for the Stephen Strange Bingo square 'Family'.

There is an illustration that goes along with this story; you can find it on my tumblr account 'aelaer', or on my AO3 account with the same name.

* * *

Tina Minoru, Master of the Hong Kong Sanctum, passed through the door from China to Kathmandu to meet with the two other Sanctum masters, as they did regularly, to discuss the status of their side of the world and any potential trends within the multiverse that might lead to a credible threat. As she entered the central meeting chamber that held the Orb of Agamotto, she saw Master Grem waiting with Wong.

"Where's Strange?" she asked with a frown. Grem snorted, which only caused her frown to deepen.

"He's indisposed," Wong answered, his face betraying nothing.

Grem smirked, the edges of his lips brushing against his short, thick grey beard. "That's one word for it."

Minoru raised her brows. "And what's another word for it?"

Wong slowly exhaled; it may have even been considered a sigh. "He went to Mayobhu."

"You didn't warn him?"

"Strange isn't in the habit of telling me every dimension he plans to 'check out'." The air quotes were evident in his shift in tone.

Minoru lifted her eyes upward in exasperation. "That would be too much to ask of him, wouldn't it?" She resisted the urge to run a hand through her long hair. "How is he holding up?"

"When I left him, he was closely inspecting the cloak's embroidery and marveling at the 'great majesty of the stitching'."

Grem snickered again.

She pressed her lips together. "Who's with him?"

"The cloak."

"No one is with him?" She shot Wong a frown.

Wong remained unmoved. "Mayobhu has left him unable to do anything but the simplest of spells, and I took his sling ring. The cloak won't let him leave the Sanctum to wander New York or let him impale himself on an ornery relic. He's fine."

"Besides," Grem added, "he'll probably spend his entire time under the dimension's euphoria too busy being delighted with the existence of every item in the Sanctum to cause any trouble."

Minoru raised her brows at Grem. "Didn't you try to go to the London Zoo to free every animal after your last trip to that dimension?"

"That was different."

"Regardless," Wong interrupted, "Stephen will be out of sorts the next few hours. I have spoken enough with him recently that I should be a viable substitute for this meeting."

She shrugged at him. "Very well." Minoru stepped up to the orb and listened to Grem as he began to run down the list of mystical and otherworldly occurrences in his section of the world.

Not five minutes had passed in their meeting when the door of the New York Sanctum began to rumble open. A handful of iridescent butterflies of various colors passed through the gap in between the doors. The three of them exchanged glances over the pedestal of the Eye.

"Wooooooonnnngggg!" came from the half-open door.

Grem began to outright laugh. Minoru did not bother to hide her smirk. "You left the cloak babysitting, did you say?"

Wong visibly sighed.

The doors fully opened and Stephen Strange meandered through them, a drowsy smile across his face. Behind him was the cloak, darting from one side of him to another; for having no face, it still appeared remarkably frazzled and uncertain. Surrounding them both was a colorful kaleidoscope of butterflies.

"Wong!" Strange chirped, and Minoru would never be able to unhear that tone of voice from the Master of the New York Sanctum. "Wong, look! I made _butterflies_!"

Wong did not appear amused. Grem, apparently, could not stop laughing.

Her eyes darted upward as one of the small creatures fluttered about her head before settling down upon it, a bright golden blotch against a sea of black. "I thought minor illusions were beyond the ability of those suffering from the effects of Mayobhu's dimension," she commented, looking questioningly at Wong.

The librarian sighed again. "Stephen does like to prove to be able to do things that he should not be able to do," he muttered, brushing away a couple butterflies that came near his face. "Strange," he said more loudly. "I told you to stay put. Go back to the Sanctum."

"Wong," he whined, and Minoru reminded herself to never visit Mayobhu if she could ever help it. "Wong, Wong, Wong." He stepped up to him and began seriously, "You don't understand, Wong. They're _butterflies_. I _had_ to show you."

"Go to bed, Stephen."

His eyes widened in horror. "I can't! Who will look after the butterflies? _They're my responsibility._" That last part Strange whispered, but the whisper was so loud that she easily heard it. Behind them, the cloak shook off a couple of butterflies that had settled upon it.

"You are going to regret this so much tomorrow," Wong answered in return.

Grem finally managed to stop laughing long enough to speak. "I think— I think the meeting's done for today." He caught his breath. "We— we can do it tomorrow. When he's back to being an arse." He laughed again. "C'mon, let's get some tea. My place."

Minoru turned from Strange, who was staring cross-eyed at butterfly on the Eye's pedestal, to look at Grem with a frown. "London? Why London?"

"The tea's superior in my Sanctum."

"Tea is amazing!" Strange shouted loudly, perhaps loud enough for the main section of the library next door to hear. Wong visibly winced.

She scrunched her nose up in feigned disgust at Grem. "I beg your pardon. England stole tea from China; Asia has been cultivating tea for thousands of years."

Grem approached the doors to London; they obligingly began to open. "Yeah," he threw over his shoulder, "but they're the ones that thought to add milk and sugar to make it good."

She mock-scowled. "Take that back, Englishman."

"I'm from South Africa!" The doors fully opened. "My dad was Dutch, anyway. I think."

"Is there a difference?" Minoru looked back over at the other two sorcerers; Strange and his butterfly horde were beginning to move closer to the library, and Wong looked near ready to use a spell to corral him back. The cloak still appeared a bit lost.

"That's like me asking if there's a difference between China and Japan, Tina. They're the same, right?" He put on a look of completely feigned innocence.

She raised a finger at him. "Don't you start, Ben."

He laughed, then looked towards the other two. "Oy, Wong! Bring Strange on over for tea."

Wong turned his frowning face from Strange to Grem. "He should try to sleep this off."

"Yeah, he should, but I left my phone in the Sanctum, so he should have some tea first."

The librarian put two and two together and Minoru swore that she saw his lips twitch upward. "I do owe him for stealing those two books from the advanced section last week." Strange, in the meanwhile, had wandered back to the pedestal, but was too busy staring wide-eyed at the Eye of Agamotto to seem to notice Wong's comment. As he reached out to poke it, the cloak smacked his hand away. Strange stuck out his lip and pouted, and there was another visual Minoru would never be able to unsee.

"Didn't he say he was just 'borrowing without permission'?" Grem asked as Wong made his way through the butterflies to collect the wayward sorcerer.

"Stealing," Wong retorted, then turned to Strange. "We're going to get tea, Stephen," he said as he took him by the arm.

"Oh, tea! Tea is amazing!"

"So you said."

Grem led the way into the London Sanctum and Wong followed after, escorting Strange. Trailing after them was the cloak and the swarm of illusory butterflies. Minoru took up the rear, watching the scene with an open smile from the safety of the back of the pack.

They ended up in a parlour in the London Sanctum. Grem performed a quick spell to transport the teapot and all the accoutrements needed for tea from the kitchen to an empty table within the room, then touched the pot to instantaneously set the water to the perfect temperature. Strange watched the show with wide eyes, as if it was the first time he'd ever seen tea made like this. Minoru, though, was pretty sure that was how the doctor made tea most of the time these days. She herself preferred the old-fashioned way, but it was entertaining enough to watch.

Wong— who also preferred the old-fashioned way— rolled his eyes and put the leaves in the strainer himself before Grem could magic them in.

"I was making it," he protested.

"You're doing it wrong," Wong retorted. He brushed a butterfly off the pot.

Grem rolled his eyes and turned to a side table to unplug his phone from a cable charger. He lifted it up and pointed it towards Strange. Said sorcerer was currently being held back by his cloak from getting too close to a glowing vase, and his sluggish fight against it (while still surrounded by butterflies) was somewhere between adorable and pathetic.

Minoru never wanted to associate the word 'adorable' with Stephen Strange ever again. She turned her attention instead to Grem and his shit-eating grin as he recorded. "Grem, while I'm here, do you have those two books on Cinnibus I asked for last week?"

He snapped his fingers. "Right. Let me get those." A quick spell left his phone floating in the air, camera still on Strange, before he exited the room.

Wong finished with the tea and poured it black for himself, Minoru, and Strange. "How much sugar does Ben put in his, again?"

"Enough to negate everything healthy about the drink in the first place," she answered. Her gaze again turned to the Master of the New York Sanctum; she couldn't help it. It was like watching a train wreck. His attention had turned from the glowing vase to a rather sharp-looking scimitar upon the wall; like last time, the cloak was doing an excellent job of keeping him from touching it, no matter how much he reached for the relic. "You weren't wrong about the cloak," she admitted.

"It's very protective of him," Wong said. He sat down and took a sip from his cup. Minoru brushed away a butterfly as she picked up her own cup, then leaned against the wall to half-block her view from the current disaster named Stephen Strange; however, it continued to prove incredibly difficult to block him out.

Grem re-entered the parlour with two books under his arm. He paused to stare at Strange strain against the cloak, chuckled, then came up to Minoru. "Here you are." After she took them, he rounded the table and frowned at his cup. "This is only sugar, Wong."

"Isn't that what you usually drink?"

"You're hilarious." A quick handwave sent the sugar back into the sugar bowl. After Grem poured himself his own cup of tea and three spoonfuls of sugar, he rounded the table to grab his phone from the air. "Hey, Stephen!" he called. Strange lifted his eyes from the scimitar (that he was still trying to reach, despite that the cloak would not let him near it) to look at him. "Tea's ready."

His eyes lit up. "You made me tea?" Strange bounded over (and there was another mental image stuck forever in her head) and engulfed Grem in a big hug. "I love you."

Wong choked on his tea.

After Strange let go and meandered his way to sit next to Wong (and probably would have missed the seat entirely if the cloak hadn't pushed him the right way), Grem took a spot on the wall next to Minoru. "So, by 'love', do you think he meant a platonic, familial love, or…?"

"I think if you ask him tomorrow, he'll kick your arse through seven dimensions," Minoru answered.

Grem scoffed. "I'd like to see him try."

"I hope you're still filming. If Strange hears that, he'll happily take you up on the challenge."

He smirked, then turned to watch Stephen carefully bring the teacup to his lips; even under the influence of Mayobhu's euphoric after effects his hands shook, and all three of them remained silent until the cup was set down again. In his current state he did not notice. "It was Wong who made the tea, actually," Grem quipped.

Wong shot him a look.

Strange did not notice the interchange at all. "Wong!" he exclaimed in delight. "Your tea is amazing!"

"I know."

"I've never tasted anything so good in my life!"

"That's nice."

Minoru then watched as Strange outright laid his head on Wong's shoulder. "I love you."

Grem burst out laughing again. His phone— still filming— shook with his laughter, and he set it again in the air so he could lean against the wall and snicker. "Maybe— hey, Tina, I know." Another quick spell conjured him a pack of cookies. "Offer him a biscuit. He might love you then."

"Seven dimensions, Ben."

He only started laughing again and took a cookie for himself. She left him and instead rounded Wong and Strange, brows raised, to get a better look at the two of them.

Strange looked… about ten years younger with that ridiculous smile on his face. The butterfly on his head only added to the effect. Wong, at this point in time, just looked a bit resigned. But he didn't push him off his shoulder, so that was nice of him. He didn't even seem to realize that a butterfly was on his arm.

Minoru looked down at herself. A butterfly was on her books. Huh.

"Wong." Strange's voice held an inquisitive note, though he did not look ready to move his head. "Do you think they call it sand because it's between the sea and land?"

Wong sighed.

The phone maneuvered about the table to get Strange in all of his glory. To the side, she heard Grem quip, "I bet we'd go viral if we posted this on YouTube."

"What a brilliant idea," said Wong.

He paused mid-biting a cookie. "Wait— really?"

"No, of course not. That's an awful idea."

"I bet everyone would think the butterflies are just special effects, though."

"I have to agree with Wong; that's an awful idea," she chimed in. "Who was the idiot that decided you should be promoted to Master of the Sanctum?"

"All the other Masters," Grem reminded them.

"I definitely do not recall agreeing with this," she retorted easily.

Strange lifted his head and beamed. "I think you're great," he told Grem with all sincerity. "You're all great. You're the best— best family ever."

She found herself smiling, despite herself. "You're not too bad yourself, Stephen."

"You're really great now. I can't wait to show you this tomorrow." Grem again.

Strange shot them all a wide grin, then widely yawned.

"Right. I'm getting him back to New York." Wong, ever the pragmatist. "I think you have enough footage to last the rest of the year, Grem."

Grem snickered. "Oh yeah, I think so."

"Seven," Minoru reminded him.

Wong and the cloak got him up to his feet. Strange waved at her and Grem. "Byeeeee!"

Grem cheerfully waved back. She rolled her eyes and called, "See you tomorrow, Strange."

As he, Wong, the cloak, and the plethora of butterflies left the room, Grem admitted lowly, "I don't think I've ever seen him that relaxed before."

"He can be a bit high-strung," she said. "But if you manage to catch him when he thinks no one is watching, he's about the same, just with… less childlike delight. And proclamations of love."

"I can't wait to show him this."

"Se-ven."

* * *

Yeah, my Masters of the Mystic Arts, on occasion, have the maturity of twelve-year-olds. Gotta relax from the world-saving somehow.

The drawing started before the story. Someone on the Doctor Strange Discord told me I should draw the promotional photo of the two Benedicts (from a Buzzfeed interview) in-character. And I just had to tell the story behind it. (Again, it's on the aelaer account on tumblr or AO3).

The butterfly part was probably inspired by the fact that my commute the last three days of work involved butterfly migrations. They weren't planned as part of the original drawing, but boom! Butterflies demanded in last-minute.

The sand comment is from a wonderful thread on Reddit by user NotA_PrettyGirl.

Finally, the dimension Mayobhu is made up and drawn straight from Vedic Sanskrit and the word _mayobhū́_, meaning "bringing happiness".


End file.
